Commission Takes Action

The sub-commission of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission is going to visit the Uludere district of the Kurdish-majority province of Şırnak (south-eastern Turkey) in order to investigate the Uludere incidents and to talk to the survivors of the bombing and the relatives of the victims.

The sub-commission was established after the bombardment by the Turkish Armed Forces on 28 December 2011 that caused the death of 34 civilians from the villages of Gülyazı and Ortasu. 28 victims belonged to one family.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy for Sakarya Ayhan Sefer Üstün was appointed head of the sub-commission. He announced that the commission was also going to meet public employees on duty in the region to retrieve information about the incident.

Üstün said that they were going to investigate the region on 2/3 February given suitable weather conditions. "We will deliver our condolences first of all. After that, we are going to talk individually to citizens living in the region. We will hear about the incident first hand. Subsequently, we will have a meeting with public employees on duty in the region. We are going to visit them at their offices and we will ask for their statements and take their opinions", Üstün explained the course of the visit.

He indicated that actions taken at the following stages of the investigation were going to be decided after the completion of the initial examination.

Heron images at prosecutor's office

It was announced in the meantime that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arranged for the transfer of TL 123,000 (€ 49,200) to the account of the Şırnak Governorship in compensation for the relatives of the persons who died in the bombing.

Mehmet Encü who lost his son and two of his siblings in the Uludere massacre had said in a statement made to bianet, "Our priority is not compensation but finding the responsible people and bringing them to justice".

The Diyarbakır Public Prosecution launched a probe into the incident. As reported by the Milliyet newspaper, the images of the Heron drones which covered four hours around the time of the bombing were submitted to the prosecutor's office in the meantime. The images were considered of great importance for the clarification of the incident

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) applied to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague because of the Uludere incident.

The application signed by BDP Co-Chairs Gültan Kışanak and Selahattin Demirtaş requested the ICC Prosecutor's Office launch a probe into the Uludere massacre.

34 civilians died in the course of the aerial strike carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces on 28 December 2011: Bedran Encü, Erkan Encü, Şivan Encü, Muhammed Encü, Bilal Encü, Aslan Encü, Adem And, Savaş Encü, Orhan Encü, Celal Encü, Fadıl Encü, Mahsum Encü, Şervan Encü, Cemal Encü, Cihan Encü, Vedat Encü, Serhat Encü, Salih Encü, Özcan Uysal, Hüseyin Encü, Nevzat Encü, Hamza Encü, M. Ali Tosun, Selam Encü, Zeydan Encü, Yüksel Ürek, Salih Ürek, Nadir Alma, Seyithan Enç, Hüsnü Encü, Şirvan Encü, Osman Kaplan, Selahattin Encü and Selim Encü. Hasan Ürek was severely injured. (AS/VK)